Yusif Eyvazov: “Arena Verona is a piece of heart, for the first time I will have a double role”

With Turiddu, he began, it has nothing to do with. “Similar to him? I wake him up as a character, he behaves very badly, and he has the ending he deserves”, jokes on the phone Yusif Eyvazov, the Azerbaijani tenor who on July 2nd will go up on the stage of the Verona Arena to play Turiddu in ‘Cavalleria rusticana ‘, while tomorrow he will make his debut in’ Pagliacci ‘, again in the Veronese amphitheater in the role of Canio, a part that will also repeat on July 2nd. “This double role is something very important for me – Eyvazov tells Adnkronos – on July 2nd, in the same evening, I will bring two characters on stage. Verona for me is a piece of my heart, my home, a special place and I am happy that this double role takes place in Verona ”. As for many of his colleagues, the year just passed was a really difficult year for Yusif “as for everyone – admits the tenor – but I was lucky because I worked a lot in Russia. During the pandemic, theaters were open with 50% of the audience. I did ‘Don Carlo’, ‘Manon Lescaut’, ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’, ‘Turandot’… I was quite busy ”. Even in Verona, Eyvazov assures us, where up to 6 thousand spectators will be admitted, it will be a “beautiful” show. “Finally – he points out – life in the theater is back in Europe too, it is something beautiful, especially for artists who have not had the opportunity to work elsewhere, we are all delighted that he is finally back.” Excited, Yusif is a lot. “After all, we all are, always – he admits -. Then tomorrow the opera season officially starts in Verona and it is a great responsibility, the Arena is a magical place, I care and I hope everything goes well “. Yusif has played many roles over the course of his career: “Almost all the ones I wanted – he remarks – and so far my favorite is Herman in ‘The Queen of Spades’, a unique character, a role that I love and that I have been performing since 2017”. And to think that as a child, opera was not in his long-term plans: “In my family they are all doctors – explains the tenor – there has never been a musician. I graduated from the Polytechnic as an engineer, I didn’t have this passion for opera, I discovered at the university that I had it. I dreamed of making pop music when I was 20 but then everything changed, I’ve been linked to opera for 24 years and I’ve been working as a singer for 14 years ”. Yusif also owes a lucky encounter to opera, the one with his wife, Anna Netrebko, world superstar. Is it difficult to do the same job? “Difficult or easy, I don’t know – observes the tenor -. At first it was difficult, as she was a superstar when we did something together they attacked me often and willingly. I had to prove that if I do something it is not because I am husband of, I go on stage and show what I can do. I always study, my career goes on as it should and I am very happy with how it is going. “After the Arena, Yusif’s agenda will be very dense: first he will fly to Athens then to Naples for Verdi’s ‘Il Trovatore’, then he will return at the Verona Arena for ‘Turandot’, and will be back in Slovenia, in Salzburg. “In December I will debut in ‘A masked ball’ in Berlin while in November I will return to ‘Otello’ after 8 years of pause at the San Carlo in Naples for the inauguration of the season directed by Martone, I am very happy, we hope that there is no other lockdown ”he warns. (by Federica Mochi)